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PA G E 3 PA G E 4 PA G E 6 PA G E 7
New Hospice Opens
at VCU's MCV Hospitals
Fourth Annual Social Justice
Week Kicks Off with SK Race
MCV Hospitals, Physicians Name
1999 Employee of the Year
PA G E 5
Ukrop'S Monument Avenue 10K to
Benefit Massey Cancer Center's
Fight Against Childhood Cancer
VCU Baseball Expects
Exciting Season
PA G E 8
Focus on Multicultural Activities "Lineman" IPage 7
March 6, 2000 Unive;rCity
A Passion for Discovery: VCU
Researcher Returns to His Roots
Former Vice President Used
Personality, Experience
to Mature Program
by Joe Kuttenkuler
University News Services The pursuit of knowledge.
It's what motivates, frus­trates
and elates ... that's
how William Dewey, Ph.D., for­mer
vice president for research
and now senior professor of
pharmacology and toxicology
at Virginia Commonwealth Uni­versity,
describes the field of
research. He spent the early
years of his 30-year career as a
basic scientist, formulating and
testing hypotheses and meet­ing
grant-filing deadlines, As
an administrator, Dewey con­tinued
work on several grants
while directing research, pro­moting
scholarly activity, build­ing
programs and partnerships
and solidly establishing research
as a discipline at VCU.
"The creation of knowledge
is an amazing thing," said
Dewey, who stepped down as
vice president in January and
returned to basic research.
"When you think about doing
something no one else has ever
done before - and then shar­ing
that knowledge with some­one
else to create something
even better - it's fantastic,"
Dewey took his first faculty posi­tion
at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967
where he served in the Depart­ment
of
Ph arm a-quently
shuttle findings from
one lab to another to search for
additional answers.
Perhaps Dewey's most sig­nificant
achieve-cologyfor
six years
before
coming to
VCU in
1972.
"During his tenure, VCU has
received national recognition
for its research, primarily in
the area of pharmacology,"
men t s
included
the work
he did to
under­"
Our stand the
research
program
is what it
is today
because
of Bill
Dewey,"
s aid
Eugene
P. Trani,
Ph.D, ,
was truly
excited about coming to VCU
and building on the work my
colleagues and I had started at
UNC," said Dewey, "1 really felt
r d be able to take my career to
the next level here."
role opi­ates
and marijuana play on the
brain as well as their effect on
various diseases. In addition, he
also studied the ways certain
drugs function in the body to
relieve pain,
VCU president. "During his
tenure, VCU has received
national recognition for its
research, primarily in the area of
pharmaL'Ology. "
He's done just that.It was in
the labs, surrounded by the tools
of his trade - test tubes, micro­scopes,
complex chem'ical for­mulas
- that Dewey felt
exhilarated. Working with fellow
scientists and staff, who also
shared his zest for discovery,
Dewey and his team would fre-
"These were very impor­tant
findings that have since
generated a great deal of addi­tional
research," said Dewey.
"Finding out how and why
the brain reacts to different sub­stances,
how these substances
relate to disease and why certain
A biologist by degree,
Women's Risk for
Anorexia Linked
to Genes
VCU Study Also Offers Genetic
Explanation for Link Between
Anorexia and Depression
by Erin Lucero
University News Services
Gen~ Significantly influence an individual's risk
for anorexia nervosa, according to the first
population-based study to estimate the extent
to which the eating disorder is Unked to genetic make­up.
The study also found a genetic correlation
between anorexia and major depression.
The Virginia Commonwealth University study
was published in the March issue of the American
Journal afPsychiatry.
"Past research has shown that about 50 percent
of women with anorexia also have lifetime depreSSion,
but it doesn't explain why these two disorders seem
to go hand-in-hand in some individuals," said Cynthia
Bulik, Ph.D., a study co-author and psycholOgist at
VCU's Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behav­ioral
Genetics. "Our study shows that not only do
genetics Significantly influence a woman's vulnerabil­ity
for anorexia, genetics also help explain the con­nection
between anorexia and depreSSion."
The VCU study estimated that a woman's sus-ceptibility
to anorexia is about
58 percent genetically influ­enced,
and that the frequent co­occurrence
of anorexia and
depression might be due to
shared genetic effects.
While there are genes spe­cific
to each condition, there
also appear to be genes shared
by both disorders, Bulik
describes three sets of genes:
one set increases an individual's
risk of developing both anorex­ia
and depression, perhaps by influenCing a particu­lar
trait that is common to both conditions; a second
set influences vulnerability to anorexia, but not depres­sion;
and a third increases vulnerability to depreSSion,
but not anorexia. An individual's genetic make-up may
incorporate genes from any, all or none of these sets.
Bulik points out that environmental factors also
playa role in determining whether an individual
develops either disorder. Such influences might, in
See ANOREXIA page 2
See DEWEY page 6
Campus Calendar
VCU Names
New School of
Business Dean
by Marcia Meredith
University News Services Following a national search, Virginia
Commonwealth University has
, named economist Michael Ses­nowitz,
Ph.D., as dean of its School of Busi­ness.
Currently dean of the School of
Business Administration at the University of
Vermont, Sesnowitz will assume his position
"In his new role
as dean of our
School of Busi-ness,
Dr. Ses­nowitz
brings a
wealth of expe­rience
and
vision to VCU."
at VCU on July I ,
pending approval
by VCU's board
of visitors.
"In his new
role as dean of
our School of
Business, Dr.
Sesnowitz brings
a wealth of expe­rience
and vision
to VCU," said
Roderick J,
McDavis, Ph.D.,
provost and vice president for academic
affairs. McDavis and Michael Little, Ph,D.,
associate professor of marketing, co-chaired
See BUSINESS page 2

A Passion for Discovery: VCU Researcher Returns to His Roots, Former Vice President Used Personality, Experience to Mature Program -- VCU Names New School of Business Dean -- Women's Risk for Anorexia Linked to Genes, VCU Study Also Offers Genetic Explanation for Link Between Anorexia and Depression -- Weekend Closings of 11th Street on VCU's MCV Campus Will Make Way for Renovation Work

PA G E 3 PA G E 4 PA G E 6 PA G E 7
New Hospice Opens
at VCU's MCV Hospitals
Fourth Annual Social Justice
Week Kicks Off with SK Race
MCV Hospitals, Physicians Name
1999 Employee of the Year
PA G E 5
Ukrop'S Monument Avenue 10K to
Benefit Massey Cancer Center's
Fight Against Childhood Cancer
VCU Baseball Expects
Exciting Season
PA G E 8
Focus on Multicultural Activities "Lineman" IPage 7
March 6, 2000 Unive;rCity
A Passion for Discovery: VCU
Researcher Returns to His Roots
Former Vice President Used
Personality, Experience
to Mature Program
by Joe Kuttenkuler
University News Services The pursuit of knowledge.
It's what motivates, frus­trates
and elates ... that's
how William Dewey, Ph.D., for­mer
vice president for research
and now senior professor of
pharmacology and toxicology
at Virginia Commonwealth Uni­versity,
describes the field of
research. He spent the early
years of his 30-year career as a
basic scientist, formulating and
testing hypotheses and meet­ing
grant-filing deadlines, As
an administrator, Dewey con­tinued
work on several grants
while directing research, pro­moting
scholarly activity, build­ing
programs and partnerships
and solidly establishing research
as a discipline at VCU.
"The creation of knowledge
is an amazing thing" said
Dewey, who stepped down as
vice president in January and
returned to basic research.
"When you think about doing
something no one else has ever
done before - and then shar­ing
that knowledge with some­one
else to create something
even better - it's fantastic"
Dewey took his first faculty posi­tion
at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967
where he served in the Depart­ment
of
Ph arm a-quently
shuttle findings from
one lab to another to search for
additional answers.
Perhaps Dewey's most sig­nificant
achieve-cologyfor
six years
before
coming to
VCU in
1972.
"During his tenure, VCU has
received national recognition
for its research, primarily in
the area of pharmacology"
men t s
included
the work
he did to
under­"
Our stand the
research
program
is what it
is today
because
of Bill
Dewey"
s aid
Eugene
P. Trani,
Ph.D, ,
was truly
excited about coming to VCU
and building on the work my
colleagues and I had started at
UNC" said Dewey, "1 really felt
r d be able to take my career to
the next level here."
role opi­ates
and marijuana play on the
brain as well as their effect on
various diseases. In addition, he
also studied the ways certain
drugs function in the body to
relieve pain,
VCU president. "During his
tenure, VCU has received
national recognition for its
research, primarily in the area of
pharmaL'Ology. "
He's done just that.It was in
the labs, surrounded by the tools
of his trade - test tubes, micro­scopes,
complex chem'ical for­mulas
- that Dewey felt
exhilarated. Working with fellow
scientists and staff, who also
shared his zest for discovery,
Dewey and his team would fre-
"These were very impor­tant
findings that have since
generated a great deal of addi­tional
research" said Dewey.
"Finding out how and why
the brain reacts to different sub­stances,
how these substances
relate to disease and why certain
A biologist by degree,
Women's Risk for
Anorexia Linked
to Genes
VCU Study Also Offers Genetic
Explanation for Link Between
Anorexia and Depression
by Erin Lucero
University News Services
Gen~ Significantly influence an individual's risk
for anorexia nervosa, according to the first
population-based study to estimate the extent
to which the eating disorder is Unked to genetic make­up.
The study also found a genetic correlation
between anorexia and major depression.
The Virginia Commonwealth University study
was published in the March issue of the American
Journal afPsychiatry.
"Past research has shown that about 50 percent
of women with anorexia also have lifetime depreSSion,
but it doesn't explain why these two disorders seem
to go hand-in-hand in some individuals" said Cynthia
Bulik, Ph.D., a study co-author and psycholOgist at
VCU's Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behav­ioral
Genetics. "Our study shows that not only do
genetics Significantly influence a woman's vulnerabil­ity
for anorexia, genetics also help explain the con­nection
between anorexia and depreSSion."
The VCU study estimated that a woman's sus-ceptibility
to anorexia is about
58 percent genetically influ­enced,
and that the frequent co­occurrence
of anorexia and
depression might be due to
shared genetic effects.
While there are genes spe­cific
to each condition, there
also appear to be genes shared
by both disorders, Bulik
describes three sets of genes:
one set increases an individual's
risk of developing both anorex­ia
and depression, perhaps by influenCing a particu­lar
trait that is common to both conditions; a second
set influences vulnerability to anorexia, but not depres­sion;
and a third increases vulnerability to depreSSion,
but not anorexia. An individual's genetic make-up may
incorporate genes from any, all or none of these sets.
Bulik points out that environmental factors also
playa role in determining whether an individual
develops either disorder. Such influences might, in
See ANOREXIA page 2
See DEWEY page 6
Campus Calendar
VCU Names
New School of
Business Dean
by Marcia Meredith
University News Services Following a national search, Virginia
Commonwealth University has
, named economist Michael Ses­nowitz,
Ph.D., as dean of its School of Busi­ness.
Currently dean of the School of
Business Administration at the University of
Vermont, Sesnowitz will assume his position
"In his new role
as dean of our
School of Busi-ness,
Dr. Ses­nowitz
brings a
wealth of expe­rience
and
vision to VCU."
at VCU on July I ,
pending approval
by VCU's board
of visitors.
"In his new
role as dean of
our School of
Business, Dr.
Sesnowitz brings
a wealth of expe­rience
and vision
to VCU" said
Roderick J,
McDavis, Ph.D.,
provost and vice president for academic
affairs. McDavis and Michael Little, Ph,D.,
associate professor of marketing, co-chaired
See BUSINESS page 2